Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! NGC 2359: Thor's Helmet Credit: Christine and David Smith, Steve Mandel, Adam Block (KPNO Visitor Program), NOAO, AURA, NSF NGC 2359 is a striking emission nebula with an impressive popular name - Thor's Helmet. Sure, its suggestive winged appearance might lead some to refer to it as the "duck nebula", but if you were a nebula which name would you choose? By any name NGC 2359 is a bubble-like nebula some 30 light-years across, blown by energetic winds from an extremely hot star seen near the center and classified as a Wolf-Rayet star. Wolf-Rayet stars are rare massive blue giants which develop stellar winds with speeds of millions of kilometers per hour. Interactions with a nearby large molecular cloud are thought to have contributed to this nebula's more complex shape and curved bow-shock structures. NGC 2359 is about 15,000 light-years distant toward the constellation Canis Major.
Wow! That is so pretty. I wonder where Thor is... probably off taking a nap (Man college is harsh). I read somewhere that on Star Trek they sometimes take the images from the hubble and use them for scenes and such, especially CG shots. That is really neat though. CounslerCoffee
I'm here, I'm here. I've woken up!! Wow, that really does look like Thor's Helmet. I would never have thought that if it didn't say 'Thor's Helmet'. Anyway, I'm off to take a nap
